“IBM is seeing a significant increase in the number of partners embedding IBM middleware into their own products to deliver higher value solutions,” said Joao Perez, vice president worldwide sales, Tivoli Software IBM. “IBM provides companies like EADS with world-class technology at what will be a lower cost to them relative to trying to create these technologies on their own.”

A significant part of IBM's growth strategy with its software business are OEM (original equipment manufacturing) agreements, through which vendors are embedding IBM software inside of their own products to develop new solutions that meet their specific customer needs. IBM's software OEM strategy offers a non-traditional approach to generating revenue for both ISVs as well as IBM.

IBM Tivoli Netcool software has been selected by more than 1,000 service providers globally. The software helps service providers manage service quality and reduce operational costs and time to market. IBM software helps service providers address emerging opportunities in next-generation network transformation, fixed/mobile convergence, and IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) deployment.